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With deadly precision, a Soviet-built BUK missile system yesterday brought down the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 carrying 295 passengers.

A surface-to-air missile hit the Boeing 777 with such force that residents claim to have seen bodies falling from the sky 'like rags'.

While it has not been confirmed who is responsible, details are now emerging of exactly how this lethal weapon was able to hunt down and destroy the passenger aircraft.

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The BUK surface-to-air missile system, also known as the SA-11 Gadfly, was created by the Soviet Union in 1979 to engage aircraft, cruise missiles and drones.

Capable of carrying 154lbs (70kg) of highly-explosive warheads, BUK can send missiles up to an altitude of 75,000ft (23,000 metres).

It takes just five minutes to warm up, 12 minutes to reload and 8-12 seconds to get to the plane. Once there, it has a kill probability of 90 to 95 per cent.

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The surface-to-air missile hit the Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 with such force that residents claim to have seen bodies falling from the sky 'like rags'

Yesterday's missile is likely to have detonated within 65 feet (20 metres) of the MH17 target, which causes critical damage to the engines and control system of the aircraft.

The explosion would have ignited the fuel on the aircraft, causing destruction of the wing and fuselage of the plane.

The missile - thought to be the Mach 3 semi-active homing 9M28M - was launched from the back of what is essentially a truck and have a range of 1.8 to 12.4 miles (three to 20km).

A 13.8-inch (35cm) 'seeker' on the missile receives information on the trajectory or a moving target from a radar station on the ground, allowing it to navigate towards the target.

Targets must be at least 50 square feet (five square metres) in order for radar to detect them.

There are three components of the missile battery that enable it to reach its target.

A typical battery to launch the missile is made up of command vehicle housing computers and displays.

There is also a target-acquisition radar, and one or more self-propelled launchers, with each carrying up to four missiles.

A battery can simultaneously engage up to six targets flying on different bearings and at different altitudes and ranges.

Normally all three components of a battery operate in tandem, though a BUK launcher can also operate by itself.

Its radar is normally used to track targets, but can be operated in 'target detection mode' to autonomously engage targets present in the radar's field of view.

The system used to determine whether a target is a friend or foe would not warn an operator that the target was an airliner - only that it was not a friend.

Power: BUK missile launchers are capable of taking down aircraft the size of a Boeing 777 flying at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet, meaning the impact is likely to have blown the plane apart in the sky [File image]

Older models fly at 2,790ft (850 metres) per second; newer models at 4,035ft (1,230 metres) per second.

At that speed, the missile would have impacted the plane between 8 and 12 seconds after it was launched, depending on the model.

The system has remained widely in use throughout the former Soviet states, including Ukraine.

Reports suggest the BUK used to shoot to have either been supplied by Russia or seized by pro-Russian rebel forces from a captured Ukrainian set.

Until then it was assumed the only surface-to-air missiles in rebel hands were shoulder-held launchers with a maximum engagement range of 10,000 feet.

They are capable of taking down aircraft the size of a Boeing 777 flying at a cruising altitude of 33,000 feet, meaning the intensity of the impact is likely to have blown the plane apart in the sky.

Witnesses says wreckage and body parts of the passengers and crew are scattered over an area of around nine miles, reinforcing the idea that the plane broke up mid-air.

Down: Smoke billows into the sky after a Malaysia Airlines passenger plane was shot out of the sky at 33,000ft over eastern Ukraine, killing all 295 people on board

Is this the moment that Malaysian flight was shot out of the air?

In a statement Donetsk separatist leader Andrei Purgin said that he was certain that Ukrainian troops had shot it down but gave no explanation for that statement.

Purgin said he was not aware of whether rebel forces owned BUK missile launchers, but even if they did, there had no fighters capable of operating it.

The Ukrainian authorities have laid the blame for the attack on the rebels by denying any responsibility for the missile launch.

Flight MH17, which was carrying 280 passengers and 15 crew, was flying between Amsterdam and Kuala Lumpur after taking off at lunchtime yesterday.

A typical battery to launch the missile is made up of command vehicle housing computers and displays. Pictured is the reload vehicle for the Buk launch system

TV pictures from the scene showed a pall of smoke billowing into the sky near Donetsk, apparently from the stricken aircraft.

Earlier, pro-Russia rebels claimed responsibility for surface-to-air missile on two Ukrainian Sukhoi-25 jets yesterday.

The Ukrainian Defence Ministry said the second jet was hit by a portable surface-to-air missile - not a BUK - adding that the pilot was unscathed and managed to land his plane safely.

Pro-Russian separatists have since added that they have no such weapon and only have shoulder-launched heat-seeking missiles fired from a MANPAD (man-portable air defence system).

These can only reach up to 4000 metres. However, separatists had previously boasted of a Buk capture on Twitter.